New to Brazil and to Montessori

[Noah's mommy]

My husband and I just accepted positions to teach at The American School of Sao Paulo in Brazil. We are thrilled! Even more exciting is the fact that our children will attend with us. They have a Montessori program both our children. My daughter will be in the half day 2-3 program and my son full day 4-5. I've been taking them to a parent child class at a local waldorf school but I haven't done a great deal of homework on Montessori. Any great beginner books for me to read? What types of things are good to have at home? We can only ship a tiny amount of stuff but we do want to bring some toys-any recommendations? We have many waldorf type toys so I'm hoping some may overlap? Any ideas are sincerely appreciated!

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by Noah's mommy

My husband and I just accepted positions to teach at The American School of Sao Paulo in Brazil. We are thrilled! Even more exciting is the fact that our children will attend with us. They have a Montessori program both our children. My daughter will be in the half day 2-3 program and my son full day 4-5. I've been taking them to a parent child class at a local waldorf school but I haven't done a great deal of homework on Montessori. Any great beginner books for me to read?

The Montessori philosophy encompasses so much. If I were to pick just a few books to say "start with these," I would really pick these 2:

http://astore.amazon.com/monteblog-2...122955-7339848

"The Discovery of the Child" by Maria Montessori is my first pick. It really tells about how children react to the environment, gives a good basis for understanding some of the methods, and talks about how she came across her ideas. While clearly it is not a complete "tell about everything in the classroom," it does a good job giving the basic ideas and principles behind the method as well as real examples from her teaching experience coupled with many descriptions of some materials.

http://astore.amazon.com/monteblog-2...122955-7339848

This is a biography of Maria Montessori by E.M. Standing. Here is another one by Rita Kramer:

http://astore.amazon.com/monteblog-2...122955-7339848

Both biography books are fantastic. Both have a little something different to offer. I suggest just getting 1 for now to start off.

After that, I would suggest (these are all on that page somewhere):
--Any of the books by Maria Montessori
--Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius by Angeline Stoll Lillard. This gives a highly detailed account of how current research supports the Montessori Method.

There is also a link to subscribe to Montessori Magazines. The Montessori Life and Association Montessori International are mainly with a teacher interest, with some stuff for parents. Tomorrow's Child's target audience is a Montessori parent. Both will have a lot of great information, though.

What types of things are good to have at home? We can only ship a tiny amount of stuff but we do want to bring some toys-any recommendations?

Bring what your children enjoy. Let the classroom be the classroom and the home be the home. Children more actively seek out activities in the classroom when they do not have them at home. There's a thread on here about that, I believe. Where someone asked about the pink tower. Or maybe that is another board.

We have many waldorf type toys so I'm hoping some may overlap? Any ideas are sincerely appreciated!

I don't know enough about Waldorf to really know. You may want to look at the Montessori materials, but they may not make sense without understanding how they are used:

http://www.nienhuis.com/shop/index.php

Matt

[Lillianna]

Also -
the Michael Olaf catalogs are a great resource for including Montessori in the home life:
http://www.michaelolaf.net/

Good luck!