Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / Sylvia Arotin on Montessori Education

Transcript

Sylvia Arotin on Montessori Education · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Happy Families podcast. Montessori schools.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: You've heard of them, but what are they about? Before
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we start today's pod, I need to emphasize today's podcast
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  Speaker 1: is not sponsored the Montessori people. If there are any,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if there are or not, but they
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  Speaker 1: don't know that I exist, And if they do, they
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  Speaker 1: haven't come to me and said would you do this.
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  Speaker 1: The reason I'm doing this pod is because I've bummed
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  Speaker 1: into somebody by the name of Sylvia Raton. Sylvia is
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  Speaker 1: running a Montessori organization in Northwest Sydney, and I just
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  Speaker 1: thought with my prediction at the start of the year
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  Speaker 1: that more and more kids would exit the typical school
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  Speaker 1: system and find alternative education pathways. Montesssauri is going to
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  Speaker 1: be on a lot of people's minds as they try
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  Speaker 1: to work out where to go and what to do.
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  Speaker 1: And so Sylvia, who happens to work in the Montessori space,
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  Speaker 1: said she'd love to have a chat about what it
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  Speaker 1: is to be involved in Montessori and what it is
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  Speaker 1: to have your children educated the Montessori way. So if
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  Speaker 1: you'd like to know what Montessori is, what it means,
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  Speaker 1: and how it works, stay with us. That interview is
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  Speaker 1: coming up next. Hello and welcome to the Heavy Families podcast,
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  Speaker 1: where you get real parenting solutions every single day. This
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  Speaker 1: is Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast. My name is doctor
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  Speaker 1: Justin Paulson, and today a conversation with Sylvia Arrington, founder
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  Speaker 1: and CEO of Guide and Grow and also somebody who
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  Speaker 1: is not just leading a global community of over four
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  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty thousand members, but is also the director
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  Speaker 1: and owner of my Montessori Preschool in Northwest Sydney, Australia. Sylvia,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for being with me on the pod today.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, Justin, Thank you so much for having me.
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  Speaker 1: I feel a little bit ashamed to say this because
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  Speaker 1: as long as I have been involved in talking about
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  Speaker 1: parenting and working with educators and talking about how there
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  Speaker 1: is an exodus from the mainstream school system into alternative
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  Speaker 1: forms of schooling. So you're running a you call it
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  Speaker 1: a preschool, but it's kind of it's not.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say, so, it's actually it's
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  Speaker 2: a school or an education center. So I would call
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  Speaker 2: it my Montessori Education Center because we run programs from
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  Speaker 2: birth through to primary school. So it's almost like this
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  Speaker 2: hybrid space that sits in between an independent school and
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  Speaker 2: an early learning center. And then we actually move into
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  Speaker 2: the primary space where we have primary classrooms that are
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  Speaker 2: available for children that are registered in homeschooling.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so when you talk about Montessori in just a second, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so what you're really doing is you're providing a service
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  Speaker 1: where you're saying you don't have to be the mainstream system,
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  Speaker 1: and you can give your kids great educational opportunities, and
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  Speaker 1: you're providing that.
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  Speaker 2: And setting them up for life. So from birth, our
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  Speaker 2: programs really involve the parent or caregiver alongside them, which
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  Speaker 2: I think is so fundamental for their learning and development.
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  Speaker 2: And then from preschool they can attend the preschool program,
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  Speaker 2: so that's on their own, and then they get ready
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  Speaker 2: to move into the school years, whether they then go
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  Speaker 2: into mainstream school or if they continue then down alternative
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  Speaker 2: homeschooling paths or alternate educations.
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  Speaker 1: All right, tell us about Montessori. What is this philosophy
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  Speaker 1: that we keep on hearing about that there's international Montessori
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  Speaker 1: schools all around the place, and people who are sometimes
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  Speaker 1: considered by the mainstream to be a little bit left
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  Speaker 1: of center or right of center or just not in
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  Speaker 1: the middle. We'll send their kids to Montessori schools. I've
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  Speaker 1: two two of them have been so impressed. But what
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  Speaker 1: is the Montessori philosphy?
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  Speaker 2: So the Montessori philosophy, I would say, isn't really an
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  Speaker 2: alternate education, but a child development aligned or centered education,
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  Speaker 2: so we look at the whole child. Maria Montessori was
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  Speaker 2: the first female doctor in Italy. She was not allowed
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  Speaker 2: to practice medicine because she was a woman back then,
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  Speaker 2: and so she actually was put to observe young children
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  Speaker 2: and learning from science point of view, how they grew,
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  Speaker 2: how they developed. And then she actually realized that she
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  Speaker 2: could have all of these materials in curriculum to really
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  Speaker 2: help them have that holistic development, that social emotional learning.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about independence, problem solving, critical thinking, life skills
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  Speaker 2: that children need from such a young age that will
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  Speaker 2: then be translational into life. So what we call Montessori
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  Speaker 2: is really that learning for life. It's not just academically focused.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me what a typical day would look like if
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  Speaker 1: my child was going to a Montessori school.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so it depends what age group, but just generally
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  Speaker 2: we have a mixed age classroom. So a three to
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  Speaker 2: six is a three years to six years old classroom.
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  Speaker 2: Then you have the six to nine classroom, nine to twelve,
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  Speaker 2: and it continues, so a typical day is a mixedtage room.
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  Speaker 2: That way we have this. You know, children are learning
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  Speaker 2: social responsibility, mentorship, leadership, the older ones are helping the
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  Speaker 2: younger ones, the younger ones are modeling off. So it's
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  Speaker 2: kind kind of like a learning community. And then when
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  Speaker 2: you walk into a classroom, you have all different areas
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  Speaker 2: of development. So you might walk in and you'll have
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  Speaker 2: a geography section and a math section, and a language section,
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  Speaker 2: and a science section or a wood working section, and
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  Speaker 2: so you have all of the areas of development of
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  Speaker 2: curricat in the environment. And then children go into work cycles.
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  Speaker 2: So they go into a three hour work cycle, which
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  Speaker 2: means that they will all have their individualized plans and
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  Speaker 2: goals and things that they're going to work on, and
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  Speaker 2: then they'll go and they'll actually learn how to learn,
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  Speaker 2: so they're not all sat down in one spot and
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  Speaker 2: being like, okay, everyone, this is what we're learning today.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone has their goals and outcomes, and then they'll go
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  Speaker 2: and navigate the classroom and choose and select work that
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  Speaker 2: they're going to work on, which all aligns to the
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  Speaker 2: Australian National Curriculum. But it also gives them the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to learn how to learn.
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  Speaker 1: So it sounds like supporting children's autonomy and allowing them
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  Speaker 1: to sort of develop a structure around what they're doing
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  Speaker 1: is foundational to how this process works.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it is, and it's definitely about having the right support.
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  Speaker 2: So we prepare the environment. The children will contribute to
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  Speaker 2: that space as well. So we have practical life in
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  Speaker 2: a Montessori curriculum, which means all of the things like
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  Speaker 2: preparing food, cleaning the space, you know, being part of
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  Speaker 2: that community. Then you have the academic which is all
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  Speaker 2: the language and the sciences and the geography materials. So
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  Speaker 2: Maria Montessori has a set of curriculum materials that are
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  Speaker 2: very hands on and sensory. So when children are learning
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  Speaker 2: about a mathematical concept, for example, they're learning through colored beads,
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  Speaker 2: they're learning through the golden beads, which are all materials
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  Speaker 2: that are made to be manipulated. So whatever curriculum outcomes
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  Speaker 2: we have, we have materials that are really sensory in
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  Speaker 2: hands on that children can manipulate and learn through tactile,
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  Speaker 2: more sensorial ways. We have reading curriculums with all the
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  Speaker 2: different types of you know, symbols that children can manipulate
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  Speaker 2: to put into sentences. So all of their learning comes
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  Speaker 2: through hands on manipulation, because we know that the hands
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  Speaker 2: of the instruments in which children learn, it's very different
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  Speaker 2: to then just sitting with a workbook or a worksheet
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  Speaker 2: and writing things out. You know, we have movable alphabets,
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  Speaker 2: we have sandpaper letters so children can feel. So these
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  Speaker 2: curriculums materials will really help children learn different concepts and experiment.
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  Speaker 1: With things after the break. Parents' biggest objections to what
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  Speaker 1: a Montessori school might look like. Plus, if your child
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  Speaker 1: goes to an alternative school like Montesssori, can they still
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  Speaker 1: go to university? Can they still have a fantastically successful
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  Speaker 1: life like they can from a traditional school system. We'll
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  Speaker 1: find out more in just a second.
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  Speaker 2: We're back.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast today, speaking with Sylvia Arroton,
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  Speaker 1: who is running Guide and Grow online. Plus looks after
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  Speaker 1: my Montossori preschool in northwestern Sydney, Sylvia. There are parents
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  Speaker 1: who will roll their eyes and go namby pamby looking
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  Speaker 1: after kids like cotton wooling and bubble wrapping and that
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  Speaker 1: sort of thing. What are the biggest objections you get
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  Speaker 1: to the whole Montessori approach.
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  Speaker 2: I love it because people think that Montessori children just
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  Speaker 2: do what they want, and it's totally not true. We
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  Speaker 2: have freedom within limits, there are boundaries. Children really respect
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  Speaker 2: the environment, they respect the rules, and they understand why
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  Speaker 2: rules exist. It's not just about keeping children compliant. We
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  Speaker 2: really support children's self regulation, their emotional regulation, the rules
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  Speaker 2: in which they operate. And it's really amazing how when
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  Speaker 2: you respect children, they actually respect you and the environment.
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  Speaker 2: And it's just this beautiful flow of you know, work
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  Speaker 2: and a classroom learning environment. The other objection we get
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  Speaker 2: is that how will children adapt to a mainstream school
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  Speaker 2: if they are going to move on to that or university.
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  Speaker 2: And the beauty about Montessori is that children come out
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  Speaker 2: being able to adapt the life skills like problem solving,
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  Speaker 2: critical thinking, you know, independence in learning to any environment.
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  Speaker 2: So it actually almost sets them up to be able
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  Speaker 2: to be adaptable in any part of society or learning
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  Speaker 2: because they can apply those skills into whatever task is
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  Speaker 2: then put in front of them.
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  Speaker 1: I've always fascinated and I feel like there's been a
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  Speaker 1: really great overview giving parents a sense of what the
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  Speaker 1: school does. So this is my summary. Tell me what
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  Speaker 1: I'm missing. Kids who go to Montessori schools are given freedom,
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  Speaker 1: independence within appropriate structures, but they're really encouraged to use
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  Speaker 1: their brains to find things that they're interested in learning
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  Speaker 1: about and to I guess, follow their nose so long
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  Speaker 1: as it's meeting some appropriate learning objectives that are all
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  Speaker 1: approved by the largest system, because that just has to
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  Speaker 1: be there. They're in mixed age groups, so they're learning
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  Speaker 1: how to deal with the social stuff, and they've got
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  Speaker 1: teachers who are there to support them and guide them
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  Speaker 1: rather than to sit down and say this is what
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  Speaker 1: you have to do today. What have I missed?
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  Speaker 2: Well, actually, you've summarized it really well. I think you've
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  Speaker 2: really covered everything that you know we're talking about in Montessori.
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  Speaker 2: But I also want to say that it supports children's
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  Speaker 2: needs wherever they are, so we really meet the children
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  Speaker 2: where they're at, whether they need extra support in one
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  Speaker 2: particular area, whether they're excelling in another area. And just
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  Speaker 2: want to continue that there's no restriction on where we
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  Speaker 2: meet children, the environment and the teachers and the whole
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  Speaker 2: classroom dynamic is really helping children thrive wherever they sit,
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  Speaker 2: and it actually really supports all learners. So a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people think, oh, is Montessori just suited for this
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  Speaker 2: type of learner or ex type of learner, but it
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  Speaker 2: really is a room for all children wherever they're at.
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  Speaker 1: So great for your conversation today, Sylvia, Sylvia Araton. You
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  Speaker 1: can find out more about her, get her involved with
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: speaking and training, consulting and everything else, because, as you
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  Speaker 1: can tell, Sylvia knows her stuff. Sylviaarton dot com will
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  Speaker 1: link to Sylvia's website in the show notes. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: the chat, Sylvia, and for shining a light on what
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  Speaker 1: Montosauri is.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Ruhlan from
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Bridge Media. Mimhammon's provides admin research and other support, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: for more info to make your family happier and resources
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to support your family, visit happy families dot com dot
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: you mm hmm