I wish I could send my children to a Montessori school. I wish my training had been in Montessori and not in general education.

Here’s why.

In Montessori, kids learn through their fingers. Not through their ears or their eyes, because that is less effective, especially for children. (We remember some small percentage of what we hear, a slight higher percentage of what we see, and most of what we do.)

In Montessori, kids move as fast or as slow through material as they need to. Kids that grasp math quickly can move on, and kids that need more time with reading can spend it there.

In Montessori, kids choose what they learn about. In general education classrooms, all thirty children are forced to do the same thing at the same time. Brain Rules for Baby, a book about neuroscience research on children, says that if you wanted to make the absolute worst environment for the brain to learn, you would design an American classroom.

Now I’m just figuring out the best way to bring some Montessori principles into my life.