This is a quality paperback which includes over 40 full color photos illustrating various real life Montessori school exercises. ABOUT THE AUTHOR The author took her AMI Montessori training at the Montessori Training Center, Palo Alto, California from Lena Wikramaratne (a colleague and friend of Maria Montessori). In 1985 she co-founded her own school, Independence Montessori and then later joined her husband’s school, Minnesota Renaissance School. This book grew out of independent pamphlets she wrote over the years to help parents understand the Montessori method. FROM THE FOREWORD "Charlotte Cushman's explanations are clear, essentialized and replete with examples that make her points easily understood. At the same time, she possesses an ability to identify in clear terms the "why's," i.e., the important ideas on which classroom practice is based. Not only is she philosophically astute, but her long experience as a Montessori teacher and her sensitivity enable her to provide a multitude of anecdotes, including conversations with children, that keep the discussion in "the real world." She also answers questions and doubts that parents have raised over the years and applies her knowledge of Montessori to matters (e.g., computer use) that postdate Maria Montessori. The result is that a Montessori parent — including me with four decades of hindsight — can say, "Oh, that's what's going on with my child" and "that's why he's doing that in class." But just as important, a parent who is considering sending a child to a Montessori school will learn the most important lesson from Charlotte Cushman's why Montessori matters for a child's success and happiness." — Dr. Michael Berliner Michael S. Berliner is a former Chairman of the Department of Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education at the California State University, Northridge. He has spoken at international Montessori conferences, contributed articles on Montessori education to professional journals, and served as the board chairman of the Montessori school which his daughter attended in Los Angeles.
Rita Kramer’s MARIA MONTESSORI: A BIOGRAPHY presents an engaging *who*. MONTESSORI: A MODERN APPROACH, by Paula Polk Lillard, details the exceptional *what*. Angeline Stoll Lillard’s MONTESSORI: THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE GENIUS offers a well researched *how*. Now, at long last, there is a brilliant book that presents parents and educators with the comprehensive *why*: Charlotte Cushman’s MONTESSORI: WHY IT MATTERS TO YOUR CHILD’S SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS.
My background: I have a B.A. in Elementary Education and taught for five years before choosing to write children’s books full-time. Disillusioned with government schools, I enrolled my son in an AMI Montessori school when he turned 3. His experiences there during the next 11 years were wow-worthy. I don’t say this lightly. I was so impressed with the staff and program, and how excited my son was to go to school every day to work, to learn, to discover, that I made the decision to go back to the university (32 years after originally graduating!) to get my M.Ed. in Montessori/Child Development. I also trained at the Montessori Institute of San Diego, earning my Primary Diploma for teaching ages 3-6.
One of my goals after graduation was to write a book about the Montessori Method: an easy-to-read-and-understand book that would rally more parents to enroll their children in Montessori schools, and encourage prospective teachers to look at this crucial alternative to the Factory Model of education.
Thanks to Charlotte Cushman, I no longer have to write that book! Hers covers everything I wanted to – and more.
Ms. Cushman’s decades of experience working with children, and her thorough understanding of them and the Montessori Method – from the psychological to the philosophical, the intellectual to the emotional – shine through on every page. Her knowledge is impressive; her writing, insightful and intelligent; her dedication to fostering the child’s growth as an independent, thinking individual is authentic and unflagging.
If you are interested in understanding the “educational system based on how children actually learn,” you must buy and read this book. A Montessori education is one of the best gifts you can give a child to ensure his success and happiness. Why? Give this book as a gift to yourself and you’ll *know*.