Books

Welcome @matt!

Matt Bateman is a philosopher & historian of education. He’s a cofounder of Guidepost Montessori, the world’s largest Montessori school network.

He has agreed to do an AMA for the /⁠books channel.

Reply with your questions (please make sure to tag him so he can easily find them)

Philosopher, dad. Formerly Guidepost Montessori. Web3 curious. https://nf.td/matt

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phil

@matt - Most Montessori schools I've visited in Japan place "rounds to zero" emphasis on spending time outdoors, either asking the parents to make sure their children go out during non-school time or having "free play time" similar to recess in the US.

Is this the case in general with Montessori or are there schools like the farm school you mention where being outside is built into the curriculum?

Very common. Montessori was Catholic and, though she regarded her method as for children of all religions or even none. Most Montessori schools are secular now but there’s the Catholic connection persists.

Re: the morning, the most important part of a Montessori school day is the 3 hour work period in the morning. If this is taken seriously variations in the rest of the time are possible.

@matt - Also, many "Montessori" preschools for here seem to be Catholic schools that have a few hours of Montessori time in the morning. Is this common? How does Montessori interface with religion in general?

No, Montessori schools in most places tend to have extensive outdoor time. The best is to have blended indoor/outdoor classrooms where the children can go outside at will, but this is not always logistically possible.