We help children prepare for their life not only for middle school or high-school.

Dr. Maria Montessori said that her method was to give aid to all aspects of life.

It was through Dr. Maria Montessori’s observations of children that she recognized the constructive power within any human person. That observation made her significantly aware of the importance of liberty. However, it is not liberty on its own that will allow for the positive construction of human beings. Instead, the two concepts, Freedom and Responsibility, go together hand in hand.

The task of parents and educators becomes how to help each child in their work of constructing him or herself and to become aware of what it means to have freedom and to be responsible for that freedom.

Children have many opportunities to deal with Freedom and Responsibility at school. Following are a few examples that we use to guide children towards learning the concept of Freedom and Responsibility.

Children have the freedom to choose their work within the environment, but there is a condition on that freedom. Part of that freedom depends on what the child needs to answer his or her question, to satisfy his or her interests, or to build up his or her understanding. But those choices have to be balanced by helping the child to arrive at the level of literacy expected by society, for example. In other words, to meet the public school curriculum or to have covered what every child would be expected to know by the time they move up to upper elementary or middle school. We have to help the child become aware of what those expectations are.

We guide our children to write their work journal. The work journal should be used on a daily basis from the beginning of the school year to record everything the child does at school. On the first day of school, we explain that they need to write the date at the top; down the left margin they write the time and then the name of the work they are working on and what lesson was given. And at the right margin, the time that they stopped that work is written. Young children may not be able to write the time and others such as the teacher or older children will assist them. What the child records is according to the ability of the child. With younger children, what they write is just the name of their work such as, “Large Bead Frame”, but as the child gets more capable, what they write will become a refined, clear, and detailed record of their works. Writing their journal becomes a tool of the child’s responsibility.

We have meetings with individual children. At the meeting, we look at the journal kept by the child so that we can discuss the work they have undertaken and the work that hasn’t been done yet. If the child hasn’t done what he or she should have done, we ask, “When are you going to do that work?” and they write down when the work will be done. At the meeting, we may show the child some lessons he or she may get for the following week. These meetings typically last 5 to 10 minutes.