4 Tips for Developing Your Child’s Self Esteem at Home

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Montessori preschool is focused on developing the whole child, and that includes building the self-esteem necessary to be more involved and responsible. You can assist with that at home using these 4 tips, or ask your child’s teacher for more suggestions.

1. Assign Appropriate Chores

Doing odd jobs around the house such as feeding the family pet, putting away their toys, or helping with dinner are excellent ways to build self-esteem in a preschool child. Performing the tasks gives children a sense of responsibility and helps them develop a strong sense of worth and personal ability.

2. Recognize Improvements

Be observant and watch your preschool child’s progress. It is okay to provide gentle guidance when he forgets a routine task, but you should never be anything less than positive in your criticisms. Montessori is focused on acknowledging improvements, not emphasizing mistakes or failures.

3. Provide a Child’s Place

Setting aside portions of the home as a child’s space gives children a sense of membership in the family and makes it easier for them to participate. A child-sized table and chair in the kitchen is a great idea, but take that a step further and hang pictures at child-level, and dedicate the lower bookshelves to children’s books. When children feel comfortable and important, they gain self-esteem.

4. Involve and Engage

Whatever you do around the house, make your children part of it. From raking the yard to measuring ingredients in the kitchen, children gain self-esteem by taking part in useful household activities. Additionally, gaining practical life experience makes it easier for your kids to learn self-reliance and teaches skills they will use throughout their lives.

Preschool is an important developmental period for children. In addition to preparing kids for academic lessons, it also helps them develop vital social, physical, and emotional skills, and that includes building self-esteem. By continuing that process at home, you reinforce the authority of the classroom and jumpstart your child’s social development.

Montessori Private Kindergarten is Based on 8 Important Philosophies

Your child’s private kindergarten varies significantly from traditional public schools. Rote memorization is replaced with hands-on, interesting activities that interest children and give them an incentive to want to learn and develop into purposeful members of the world they live in.

1. Movement and Cognitive Development

Movement is a critical aspect of development in private kindergarten. Children need fine motor skills to grasp and manipulate small objects, and gross motor skills to run, jump, climb, and throw. As they develop motor skills they learn cognitive skills that help them identify objects and learn the association between different things.

2. Choice Fosters Critical Thinking

Montessori children choose their own activities and learn to think critically. This enhances problem-solving skills and makes it easier for children to be more in control of their lives instead of accepting control from others.

3. Generating Interest

Generating interest and keeping children engaged is a crucial aspect of the Montessori Method. The idea is that everyone has their own interests and preferences and kindergarten children will learn better when they can explore the things they are interested in.

4. Avoiding Rewards and Punishments

Research indicates that children who learn in an environment where learning is rewarded have shorter retention and are less likely to develop an interest in the material, performing instead solely for the temporary reward gained from completion. Montessori uses praise sparingly but never provides direct rewards for completing classwork.

5. Peer-Assisted Learning

Montessori classrooms have 3-year age groups. The philosophy behind this mixed-age grouping is that younger children will readily learn from older kids, and older children will develop critical social skills and self-esteem by helping younger ones.

6. Hands-On Contextual Learning

Another facet of learning that was identified by Maria Montessori is that children learn faster and retain information longer when they can hold it in their hands. Contextual learning like comparing types of leaves fits into other academic endeavors like language, math, and writing.

7. Classroom Roles

Montessori classrooms have distinct roles for children and teachers. This fosters a sense of teamwork and community, and positions the teachers for observation and providing individualized attention to the children who need it most. This stands out in contrast to following a strict curriculum that invariably leaves some children wanting and others disinterested.

8. The Prepared Environment

The organization and design of the Montessori private kindergarten is intended to provide children with an organized environment where everything is within reach and kids can move freely from one activity to another. From child-sized furniture to workstations set out in a distinct manner, it is the prepared environment that allows freedom without creating cacophony.

The philosophies that underlie the Montessori Method in private kindergarten were not randomly chosen, and the system has a definite goal for all children: To become educated and empowered members of their school, home, and community. Through interaction, environment, and materials, Montessori is an impressive educational system.

How Can Parents Support the Montessori Method at Home?

Montessori elementary school education works better when it becomes a way of life instead of a day at school. . The best way for parents to promote Montessori at home is to recreate the Montessori environment and be the role models your children already see you as. Here are some of the best ways to reflect the Montessori Method at home.

A Prepared Environment

Set aside an area of the home for your Montessori elementary school student. Your child will feel more like a part of the family if she has a space that fits her instead of the adults in the family. Child-sized tables and chairs, dedicating the lower shelves of a bookcase, and hanging pictures at eye level are preparations for the home environment.

Practical Life

From helping out in the kitchen, shop, or yard to taking on routine chores, children benefit from learning to perform everyday tasks. Where routine tasks are concerned, they can be used to instill a sense of daily routine and timing, which often benefits children with learning challenges.

Two-Way Communication

Talk to your children often, and pay attention to what they have to say. Unless you are giving your daughter a chance to be heard, you are lecturing her, not communicating. Feeling like an important part of the family and knowing that her feelings are important instill a sense of self-esteem that will carry over to all facets of her daily life.

Motivation Not Reward

Research has shown that using a reward system for learning can backfire. Children who are striving for a treat or reward show less retention of what they learned and may be less interested in performing well. A better idea is to motivate your child to do and learn by providing her with interesting and engaging activities that are the reward in themselves.

Role Modeling

Being a great role model for your kids is always a path to success. You can do this by remembering to be courteous and polite, promoting social etiquette, responsibility, and honesty. Your children will mimic what they see you doing, so avoid displaying toxic behavior and try to be patient with others.

Children do not stop learning at the end of the Montessori elementary school day, and the more you can do to promote their interest in learning and doing things at home, the more they will benefit from it. You may not be able to reproduce a complete Montessori environment, but you can do a lot to make the learning process a continuous adventure for kids to enjoy.

How Do Montessori Preschool Activities Encourage Children to Learn?

Montessori-style play-based learning encourages children to learn by engaging them in ways they can wrap their minds–and fingers– around.

Your Montessori preschool is invested in developing each child to their fullest potential. To do this, the Montessori Method uses play-based, hands-on activities that often engage children in multiple developmental activities at the same time. This type of multi-purpose learning is central to Montessori, but it may come as a surprise to those only familiar with traditional teaching strategies.

Outdoor Activities

Running and climbing are two facets of outdoor play, but going outdoors also means an opportunity to explore the plants, animals, and insects that live in the vicinity. In Montessori preschool, time spent watching as a colony of ants takes a cookie apart is as valuable as skipping rope, but applies the learning potential to critical thinking and basic biology rather than gross motor skills. Gross motor skills are not ignored, but other skills become part of the process.

Authentic Montessori Activities

There are quite a few activities that are considered critical activities in Montessori preschool. The Pink Tower may be the best-known,  but Binomial Cubes are much more advanced. Both activities look like children’s toys to the casual observer, but both help children develop critical thinking skills. The Pink Tower also teaches sorting, recognizing larger and smaller objects, spatial representation. Binomial Cubes can help children learn math skills up to and including basic algebra. Both are excellent as a way to engage children in the learning process.

Music and Movement

Activities that perform multiple functions is the premise behind Montessori education. Combining music and movement is one of many examples of the idea put to effective use. Through music, children learn about musical instruments, cultural heritage, and develop critical thinking skills and creativity. At the same time, they are working on critical gross motor skills used in dancing and physical exercise as well as fine motor skills for grasping and manipulating objects. In fact, music can be used to teach math, science, language, and history, making it perfect for use in a multi-subject learning environment.

Authentic Montessori preschools follow a carefully designed educational system that focuses on whole-child development. This is accomplished through multi-purpose activities that keep children interested and exploring, driving each child to become the master of his or her own education.

4 Ways That the Montessori Method Builds Great Leaders

An authentic Montessori elementary school uses the Montessori Method to instill leadership skills in your child’s regular lesson plan. Leadership skills themselves are not on the curriculum, but the Montessori Method itself promotes the individual child, and that includes honing skills that every great leader possesses. 

1. Modeling Behavior

The first and most important way that Montessori elementary school teaches leadership skills is by exhibiting the type of behavior that great leaders display. Politeness, patience, gratitude, and forgiveness are among the social skills practiced in Montessori schools, and the same type of exhibited behavior at home will show even better results. Children learn best from the role models in their lives, with parents and educators at the top of the list.

2. Positive Reinforcement

When children do something well, they are recognized for their accomplishments. A word or few of praise is often all it takes to propel a child into using the same behavior strategy in the future. Montessori does not criticize failures but promotes successes. This develops self-esteem, and a sense of personal value is crucial to Montessori education.

3. Developing Social Leadership

Learning to interact politely with others is a huge step toward developing leadership skills. Montessori elementary teaches children to be grateful and forgiving and helps them explore diplomacy as a way to solve social problems. Social etiquette and learning to interact in a social environment begins in Montessori daycare and continues through every 3-year cycle of the Montessori Method.

4. Communication and Feedback

Every step of a successful Montessori elementary school education depends on communication. Similarly, the hallmark of some of history’s greatest leaders was their ability to communicate goals and then follow through until they are reached. Children are encouraged to discuss issues, build strong vocabularies, and develop critical thinking skills. At the same time, they develop positive feedback skills to distinctly and clearly voice concerns or objections in a calm and acceptable way. 

Montessori elementary school cannot make a great leader out of every child, but it can give every child the tools they need to become great leaders. For the best results, parents need to take an active role as well, because learning does not stop when the school day comes to an end.

Do the Parents Play an Important Role in a Montessori Environment

For Montessori daycare parents, their role begins at home and extends to the classroom and the larger world beyond.

A Montessori daycare depends on parental involvement in a number of ways. Your communication is important for the teachers to create a unique curriculum for your child, for example. By design, the Montessori Method includes parental involvement as one of 3 vital roles and outlines how parents can take an active part in their child’s education. 

The Three Montessori Roles

The Montessori daycare works best when there are 3 active participating roles. The child must be engaged, the teachers must be observant and provide guidance, and the parents need to reinforce the Montessori Method at home and in the experiences of their children. Parents are actually the most important role of all because they are going to be the most effective role model for their children.

Montessori at Home

At home, parents should try to create an environment tailored for the child, similar to the way the daycare classroom is arranged from a child’s point of view. Child-sized furniture and household tools encourage your child to be more involved and to feel more like an important part of the group. Parents should also assign practical life activities like cleaning up, feeding the pet, or helping set the table for dinner. And throughout every activity and interaction, parents should remember that their children are watching and provide the best example of what they want their children to imitate. 

Parents in the Montessori Classroom

Your child’s daycare is always interested in parents who want to come in and be a part of the classroom experience. Whether you simply want to sit in and observe the typical day or want to take part in festive events or special occasions, you are always welcome to talk out how you can help with school administrators. You are also asked to meet with your child’s teachers from time to time to discuss how much progress is being made and to address any issues that may arrive.

Parental Involvement in Early Education

Anytime you are with your kids is a good time to help them learn in Montessori-inspired ways. A walk in the woods and talking about the different plants and animals, helping with shopping at the supermarket, or simply reading a book together are all excellent ways to promote learning at home. For daycare children, the world is a huge volume of unanswered questions, and every day is a chance to discover something new.

Parents spend more time with their Montessori daycare children the teachers and staff, and that means that a big part of each child’s education takes place in the home or wherever they may go with family members. Through their parents, children gain a broader understanding of the world they live in.